PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government yesterday announced to launch a massive protest drive against the federal government’s alleged plan to deprive the province of its due rights in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), contrary to all its announcements and commitments. Chief Minister Pervez Khattak decided to stage widespread protests against what he called a deceitful act on part of the federal government and announced the KP government would go to every forum to protect the rights of the province.
He added all the parliamentary parties of the KP Assembly would be taken on board for this unprecedented protest campaign, warning his government would withdraw its cooperation for executing the CPEC project until their reservations were removed. He said the withdrawal of support by his government might also include stoppage of the land acquisition process for the KP portion of the project. The decision was taken at a meeting at the CM Secretariat with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in the chair. The meeting was attended among others by Speaker Asad Qaiser, Mineral Development Minister Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli, Strategic Planning Unit chairman at the CM Secretariat, Sahibzada Muhammad Saeed, KP Ulasi Tehreek leader Dr Said Alam Mahsood, Tariq Afghan advocate and others.
It was disclosed by Dr Said Alam Mahsood that the federal government had allocated a share of only 1.4 percent for the KP province contrary to the Punjab that would be getting 80.4 percent of the total budget allocation of Rs 359 billion for the years 2015-17 while this KP share would be spent on the only hydro power project of Suki Kinari in district Mansehra. The meeting was told that the six key components of CPEC had also been changed in favour of the Punjab while Dera Ismail Khan-Mianwali-Burhan link of the western route was also missing in the latest map of the route, which was kept secret by the federal government. Mianwali was being linked with Islamabad through another planned road at a cost of Rs 10 billion under public sector development programme, he revealed.
It was further disclosed Rs 95 billion (51.35 percent) of the total Rs 185 billion budget earmarked for the current year for the motorway project of the corridor would be spent on the eastern route while the remaining 48.65 percent would be utilised for connecting Lahore with Gwadar and Karakoram Highway. With reference to the monographic study of the roads and their facts reflected in the maps and other documents of the federal government revealed that Metro Bus and underground fast-track railways project had also been incorporated in the CPEC, which will link Rawalpindi with Karachi through Gujranwala, Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad, thus totally excluding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Commenting on the alleged designs of the federal government concerning the CPEC, the chief minister lamented the federal government’s betrayal had shocked the KP government and the people of the province and shattered their trust in the federal authorities. Criticising the federal government attitude towards the CPEC plan with reference to KP’s rights, Khattak recalled a national consensus had been evolved when the KP government had voiced against the usurpation of the province’s rights in respect of CPEC and it had been assured publicly by the federal government that all the provinces would get equal share in the CPEC projects while the western route would not only be included in the project, but would also be built on priority basis.
He regretted nothing of this sort had been found in the Planning Commission documents as well as the federal budget allocations. He said the federal government was hiding everything regarding CPEC and keeping the smaller provinces in the dark. He announced the KP government would not tolerate such injustice to the people of the province and would go to every extent for protecting its rights. He said all parties in the KP Assembly would be taken into confidence for launching a joint protest campaign against the Centre for ignoring the commitments made on May 28 last. As the first step, the ongoing process of acquisition of land for the corridor would be stopped by the KP government. He, however, said a final decision in this regard would be taken after consulting the parliamentary parties. He asserted the KP funds would not be allowed to be spent on Punjab. Describing the legal and constitutional aspects of CPEC, he said the federal government was not authorised to take arbitrary steps without consulting the federating units.http://nation.com.pk/national/26-Nov-2015/kp-plans-massive-protests-for-cpec-rights
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